Why CHINA was the WORST and the BEST travel of my life
now I am locked in this country in this video I will travel to China for the first time I hope sharing my experience will help many others not to make the mistakes that I did because the first half of my trip was a nightmare anyways as a Russian passport holder I can have 144 hours or six days Visa free in some cities of China so while traveling in Asia I decided to make my connecting flights in China and use this Visa free opportunity my first destination is China's biggest city Shanghai "Nihao" from "Jungwo" so my very first impression of China is unfortunately a big frustration but only because of many mistakes of mine and a really bad preparation for this trip when I realized that I have such a long layover in Shanghai I was super excited to meet my Chinese friend that I studied with in the US who lives here but the only contact that I have with her is on Instagram and I thought that this not going to be a problem because I would use VPN here in Russia now Instagram and many American social media are blocked so I thought I will do the same as in Russia come here use VPN that's it so I come here and the VPN doesn't help me to connect to any social networks Google Google Maps nothing works I keep exploring Shanghai while telling this story so I thought that I just need a better and paid VPN and I would be good I go on Apple Store and at this moment I realize that it's banned for Russians I can't access Apple Store somehow I managed to change the country download a good VPN but still nothing works you cannot access absolutely anything I expected that it would be the same as in Russia where the social networks are banned but you get any VPN and you're good but here VPN doesn't help me so I couldn't access anything and for two whole days I cannot contact my friend in any way I did not find any way to contact her it is very stupid I'm here in Shanghai and I can't see her it's just being very bad prepared for this trip I should have taken her WeChat the local messenger number I should have prepared I did not know this I can't even access Maps or anything I've traveled so much in the past years but I've never had really a big culture shock but here in China it's really like a completely different planet with its own rules its own internet and everything yeah I couldn't contact my friend it's very sad but I enjoy Shanghai so much it's an amazing city in my opinion I will be back in China but next time I will be more prepared for it little did I know but my Shanghai adventures are not over now I am locked in this country I'm stuck in Shanghai airport I can enter Korea Visa free as a Russian but I need a special approval which I can get within 72 hours I applied for it and it was supposed to come to my email but I couldn't access it all this time because it's baned here I thought maybe in the system they would have it approved so I wanted to check in but they need the screenshot or anything and I just can't get it because it's on my email nobody here speaks English very few people who I managed to find tell me that gmail is illegal here and there is no way to access it I downloaded so many VPN nothing works so I'm sure I have disapproval but I just can't access my email because it's illegal what is this honestly I've never been in such situation I have no idea what to do I can't contact any of my friends from Russia anyone no Messengers work nothing maybe in 3 days when my Chinese free transit finishes they will deport me to Russia guess what this is boarding for Seul and I got my approval to leave China and to go to Korea the solution was I remembered about a Russian app messenger VK which I haven't used for ages and it turns out that it works perfectly here in China as well as Yandex browser and this is not the advertisement of Russian apps but I guess only American social media and networks don't work here so I managed to find someone who also still uses VK it's not that popular anymore that's why I didn't even remember about it I got help from abroad I got my approval and "Junguo Sesia" bye-bye I'm on my way back to Russia and I'm flying through China and I've got 6 days Visa free again but this time I'm in the North in the capital it's quite chilly here so I got this traditional I guess almond tea and this trip feels already so much better because I'm super prepared for it now okay here we go almost by the entrance to the Forbidden City I decided to share a checklist of the things that you must do before coming to China that I learned from my own terrible mistakes this experience actually made me realize how much we depend on technology because without translator without maps without internet basically I was so lost and I couldn't even tell any of my relatives or friends anyone that I was in China basically I flew to China and I disappear for everyone so they were quite worried but anyways I will tell you how to get access to the internet so number one get the VPN ready on your phone because once you come here it's impossible so download the VPN and many people recommended me let's VPN it works very well in China and now I'm using it with a paid subscription for one week and it really works I'm not cut from the rest of the world number two in order to communicate with locals use a messenger named WeChat and you can text to anyone even without VPN number three have offline maps downloaded I couldn't download the Google Maps maybe they don't work for China but any other ones and then you will be good number four the offline translation app because so few people here speak any English even in Shanghai or in the capital if I want to ask for directions in the street how to buy a ticket if I want to order something they don't understand the words like no meat vegetarian like no words so have the translation app also if you can't read the Chinese writing that's very helpful and number five withdraw some cash at the airport and then in the city because Visa and MasterCard payment systems do not work in China they use Ali App pay and some other ones also the Union pay system which you can also use in Russia not everywhere but in touristic places in Russia and in some places you can use this as well but Visa and Master Card cards do not work here and now when I'm all set up I'm ready to explore let's start with the "Tiananmen" and the Forbidden City I guess I met my Russian well Tatar friends from Russia that are studying here in China what's up everybody today we're going to have a dinner in some specific Chinese restaurant we're trying to choose is giving us very weird translations on our translation app like the exploded belly of Beijing or rolling donkey tong we're trying to choose so this is some kind of traditional dish it's like omelette with eggs and noodles and guys have a salad with cucumbers that's it just cucumbers with some green with some chili paper and some dessert which was named rolling donkey tong yeah but we asked there is no meat but the guy said desserts with meat is quite popular and they gave us hot water just as I I imagined in China yeah it's something like a tradition in China to drink boiled water they do not like some cold water they always warm it up and then drink government is controlling everything desert time with hot water first time trying rolling donkey tong without me Hugehow will take me through this hiking day and explain some of the history of the wall so how long is it and when it was built the you know the different dynasty they build the different sections of the Great War the total length of the greater War is Over 22,000 km 22,000 km yeah like half long of the equators how long will be today's hike around 5 to 6 km total some part is is steep some part is flat but this part is okay it's not too difficult why it was built here and why in the mountains it's my first time I see a fortress in the mountains when we stand here the Great Wall is defensive line to protect the Beijing which the Great Wall had main functions is to keep the Mongols out why they didn't build it on the border with Mongolia because in the old days to build a Great Wall if you want to build it to the northern border of China that part is difficult because the for the soldiers they do not have much more spers in China the Great War mainly divided into two parts the inner Great War and the outer Great War different dynasties with the different sections of the war they have many sections of great the you guys love the walls but the part of the wall that we're working on was built during the Mean dynasty which is a year begin from 1368 to 1644 so this is not the restored part of the wall yeah this is this is original original yeah I know that there are now many restored ones yeah uh like modern yeah then you know like the the red star most most for the tourist so we are on the very wild part of the wall which is like this original one so while I have this opportunity and we're stuck here together I want to ask you some questions that I always had in my head about China and you know China has one of the strongest economies in the world it's discussed so much in the media but still the image of it is quite superficial of people who never been here and only judge China by huge groups of tourists all over the world and they make their impression only on these tourists so there are so many stereotypes about China so I will tell you some commonly known stereotypes from the internet and some of my questions about China that I always wanted to ask sure the first stereotype is that Chinese are brainwashed and mind controlled by the government we can't see the outside of the the informations outside of the China even the good or the the bad news yeah you can yeah yeah we can see uh but how because here is no Google we can use a Baidu we can use use the internet we also can see the news of other countries oh yeah yeah yeah yeah I didn't know that I thought here it's only all what the government wants you to see like most of the time I think this most of the the country most of the government of the country they want their citizens know this right and so because here all the American social media are banded and and it's mostly Chinese apps and Chinese everything do you feel like China is a very closed country before the 1978 the China is closed but after the 1978 the China is opened the internet developers before in China we we we also have the Google but after the China government is not allowed the we use a Google anymore it's because like if you open the Google's Map you can see the every details of the China even the the secret place that's why the Chinese government has not allowed the Chinese people use Google Map and the Google this video will go on YouTube yeah no problem have you ever seen YouTube yeah people we have a YouTube instead of YouTube you have BillyBilly yeah we have Billy Billy yeah do you ever can access YouTube If you if you want to use a YouTube you need to buy the VPN it's like this now in Russia for Instagram or Facebook you also can use with VPN with same same another stereotype from the Internet is that Chinese eat dogs before some part of the people they eating eating the dogs but now now most of people they stopped eating the dogs probably they did it because of starvation or something uh I think in the old days it's just as like the habit the next one the question is about the policy one family one child is it like this now or it was caneled no it's a cancelled which is stopped changed from the year 2016 for how many years was this policy the policy start from the 1980 to 2016 so it was impossible to have the second child yeah if you won you had the second child you need to pay the big fines how much was the fine I didn't exactly exactly know the price but the price was really big but they canceled this policy because there is no more overpopulation or yeah this because the government realized the regime population in China has got to be increasing another stereotype is that China is a cheap country which I see is not true at all yeah it's not true for hotel for staying here for food for everything how much costs monthly rent for instance in Beijing one month depends where where you want to rent the the apartment if you rent the apartment nearby the secondary building every month you need to pay at least $1,000 more than $1,000 and what is the average salary for the common people average salaries in Beijing is like around almost $1,000 Us dollars so basically you spend almost everything on renting yeah another stereotype is that Chinese woman are subordinate to men that it's like patriarchal country yeah yeah yeah man should be earned the money yeah to to feed the the families but no for most of the big city even the woman they they still go to the work they they earn money uh they they work together and I always had three questions for Chinese no problem so the first one you know everywhere you guys travel in huge groups in buses like 50 people why do you like to travel like this because if you join the big groups you you you only can play a little little bit of money if you travel along you you will spend a lot more money yeah so that's the cheap way to travel and efficient because Chinese tourists are always get out of the bus and they say okay take pictures 10 minutes go go this is true have you ever traveled like this no I don't like the to prefer to travel with the big groups so second question do Chinese prefer more non-traditional medicine than official Health Care before in China most of the young people they prefer the Western medicine because you take the Western medicine is a really fast help you to recover you you take the Chinese traditional medicine recovering is really slowly but they will be really helpful you in the long term yeah in the long term I agree with you the medicine from pharmacy will stop the pain but will not heal the problem yeah yeah and traditional medicine will heal your body so people prefer it now as well the now the most of the Chinese people they realize Chinese traditional medicine is really good the good for your body because the medicine is from the nature it's not chemical I think in Russia a bit the same for example when we're cold we take garlic onions hot tea honey herbs and the third question I was always told this that Chinese always drink hot water from any disease this is because before like 20 or 30 years ago in China we do not have the good filter system if you straight drink the tap water it's not not healthy for you that's why the people need before they drink the water they need bowling I thought that you do it because you thought it was healthy is healthy yeah and just the last question what do you like the most about living in China food for me is food definitely food and and also in China they have a much more type of nature landscape because China is a huge like the Snow Mountain grassland desert glaze river yeah huge country and only one time zone yeah yeah it's crazy okay why do we have stereotypes and cliches in our head usually it's because someone else had a bad experience with some person or a place and told you about it and you decided to believe the story I guess if my video had only Shanghai part I would also tell you that China is such a closed country you can't use internet nobody speaks English and all of these just don't worth traveling there I guess it's important to remember that every coin has two sides if there is Yin there is always Yang as well whatever circumstances are keep the open mind and eventually you will find the beautiful side in anything
2025-02-10 06:34
